Improvement in water-closet yalte apparatus



@uiten tatrs @anni @fitte J v L1MES GILFILLAN, OF GHARLESTOWN, MA'SSACHUSETTS.

Letters Patent No. 66,233, dated July 2', 1857. i

itin dgetule referat tu it ttes tttas partait mit mating pitt nt tige smut.

TOALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME:

Be it known that I, JAMES GILFILLAN, of Gharlestown,in the county of Middlesex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Water-Closet Valve Apparatus; and do hereby declare 4the same to be fully described in the following speciication, and representedl in the accompanying drawings, of whieh- Figure 1 is a vertical section of such apparatus.

Figure 2 is a top view, and v Figure 3 a side elevation of the valve stem and its valves. I

The purpose of the apparatus, onwhich my improvement is applied, is to allowthe valve of the supply pipe of a water-closet to gradually close upon or move towards its seat after having been moved off the same, the same being to obtain the neces/sary flown-ge of water to effect the cleansing of the pan or basin of the closet.

The valve is usually moved off its seat by means of a lever, which, after having been pulled up by a handle attached to it, is suddenly allowed to fall away from the valve-stem. The slow descent of the valve is eiected by a vacuum-chamber,- and a iiexile cup-piston arranged within such chamber. The said vacuum-chamber constitutes the interior of a cylindrical vessel, arranged over and so as to open into the valve case, the cup-piston being arranged within the racuum-chamber and vconnected to the valve. f

My improvement relates especially to the said piston, which, as heretofore made, has been a cup ot' leather or vulcanized India rubber or gotta percha. It has been found that thepiston so made is liable, after being in use,to become inverted or turned wrong side out within the vacuum-chamber, in which case it will not operate to advantage.V AIn order to prevent the inversion of the valve, I combine withit a leXile spring-cap made of metal, and being elastic at its vedge or periphery, and cup-shaped. This cap I construct of a very thin disk of metal, having slits laterally in and through it, from its circumference toward its centre, they being arranged at equal or about equal distances apart. The disk, after being so formed with slits, is to be bent in the shape of a cup, in which case the-portions next its circumference will he' caused to lap on one another, and the whole will constitute a concave-convex spring to receive and tit to the {lexile piston, whose edge should extend below that of the said cap a. short distance. The metallic spring-cap so made will contract and expand with the rubber or ilexile piston, and will prevent it from becoming inverted while they may be in use. p

In the drawings, A denotes the valve-case, of which a is the valve-seat, and b and e the induction and ednetion passages. B is the valve-stem provided with a valve, o, and the ilexile cup-piston d, made of gutta4 pereha, leather, India rubber, or the equivalent thereof. C is the vacuum-chamber situated over the valvechamber, and to operate with the tlexile piston. D is the metallic, elastic, or spring-cap, made as described, and fixed upon the valve-stem concentrieally there-with, and with respect to the ilex'ile piston in manner as represented in g. 1. .A helical spring, E, is arranged within the vacuum-chamber and presses against its stop, and also against the elastic cap D, the purpose oi' such spring being to effect the closingl of the valve or its movement towards its seat. This movement of the valvewill be resisted by the vacuum in the chamber C. -While the valve is Ain the act of being forced off its seat the piston will be driven upward in the vacuum-chamber, and will collapse, so as to cause the water in the chamber to be expelled therefrom. The pressure of the spring, after the valve-stem may havebecome freed from the upward pressure of its lever, will gradually' force the piston downward, the water, in the mean time, passing the vperiphery of the piston and entering the vacuumchalnber. My improved arrangement of the spring, viz, in thevaeuum-chamber, prevents it from becoming clogged by chips, or other extraneous matter carried into the apparatus with the water while'passing through it.

I claim thecombination of the Velastic metallic concave-convex cap D vwith the lexile cup-shaped piston d, applied to the valve-stem B, and arranged wit-hin the vacuum-chamber C, as and for the purpose specied.

I also claim the arrangement of the spring E within thevvacuum-chamber and with respect to the piston,

as set forth. JAldl'ilSA GILFILLAN,

Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, F. I. HALE, Jr. 

